1. Field
The following description relates to a cartridge for a medication dispensing apparatus having a roll-rotating drum, the drum configured to open and/or close an outlet of a cartridge case and capable of rolling up and down.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to solve drawbacks of pharmacist manually dispensing medication, a medication dispensing apparatus is needed. If a doctor orders medication for a prescription using a computer, the medication dispensing apparatus automatically divides medication into dose per serving. Such a medication dispensing apparatus includes a medication cabinet for keeping medication separate according to types, and a packing unit which is disposed below the medication cabinet and packs medication supplied from the medication cabinet.
The medication cabinet is configured to include a plurality of medication cartridges. A medication cartridge stores the same type medication, and dispenses the medication to the packing unit in accordance with a prescription signal. A case of the medication cartridge includes a cartridge case, having an outlet on the bottom thereof so as to dispense stored medication; a drum installed inside of the cartridge case so as to selectively open and/or close the outlet; and a cartridge base having the cartridge case installed thereon.
In the case when the drum simply repeatedly rotates on a horizontal state, it is possible to open an outlet of the cartridge case but there are some drawbacks. That is, medication contained in the cartridge case may not be distributed evenly to each cell of the drum, and it is hard to secure a time for dispensing medication regularly. In particular, if there is a large amount of medication, the medication may be not distributed effectively to each cell of the drum due to the medication's weight and pressure.